School Board May Move Meetings to City Hall

The Portland School Committee will vote on June 14th on whether to continue meeting at Portland Arts and Technology High School (PATHS) on Allen Avenue, or move the meetings somewhere else- possibly to Portland’s City Hall.

The Casco Bay High School currently exists in PATHS - with it's epicenter at 250 PATHS - where the school committee meetings are held, and is expanding from 80-something students to at least double that number.

West End School Board member Stephen Spring says that meetings are inconvenient for the students, because much of their work is project-based and the students need more space to do their work.

Currently, the nine-member board has six representatives who live near or on the peninsula. Two board members- Ben Meiklijohn and Jason Toothaker – do not own cars.

Moving the meetings to City Hall would result in easier travel and less fossil fuels being used, says Spring.City Hall is accessible by most major bus routes, he says, and participation by citizens without cars would be easier.